“I grew up listening to disco. I actually just met Giorgio Moroder here in Amsterdam during the Amsterdam Music Festival. What a hero! Disco was the foundation for a lot of electronic music that is popular right now. Giorgio Moroder has had a massive influence on trance music. I think a lot of artists will say the same thing. The disco generation was definitely the spark for the whole EDM movement that is happening now.

“I want to stress that what is happening now is not just a hype or phenomenon. A lot of people thought that it would go over, but now it has spread like a virus through all kinds of other current musical genres. Even pop music is using a lot of electronic ways to make music. I think when we look back at history, at this time, I think we will see that it is like what happened with The Beatles in the ’60s. It’s happening again with electronic music.

“If you listen to US pop radio you will hear a lot of EDM, and I’m not saying that is necessarily a good thing by the way. There are good and bad sides to the commercialisation of the genre. We cannot turn our heads from the fact that it is moving a generation of people and it is a cultural phenomenon like what happened with The Beatles, only it doesn’t have a face as much as it did with The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.

Armin went on to express his repugnance for the integration of EDM in contemporary pop music.

“On a very personal level I don’t know if I’m happy with every commercial collaboration between electronic dance music acts and hip-hop and R&B. It’s not something I would put on for my enjoyment. It’s not going to go away, whether I like it or not. It opens a lot of doors. For example, you can love or hate David Guetta, but the fact is that he has opened a lot of doors for all of us.”

Whenever an underground scene gets commercial exposure it rattles the roost for many long time fans that want to keep the music pure. It happened to hip-hop, punk rock, and now EDM. Despite the potential for “bubble gum” dance music to creep onto the airwaves, one thing is for sure, as long as people feel the need to dance, which is in our DNA, there will be a demand for EDM.

We want to hear your thoughts on the current state and direction of EDM, so please let us know in the comments!